Past Article:

A Dressage Horse

This month's featured horse is an event horse.  They are a good combination and are successfully competing at training  level.  The rider plans to go preliminary this year.  At the moment their dressage marks are often in the five to seven range with double clears in the jumping phases.  However, lets look and see what would turn the fives to sixes, and the sixes to sevens.  I'm sure this rider could get lots of eights.

A picture is worth a thousand words!
What effect is the rider having on the horse's way of going?

Firstly let's look at the rider: She is a tidy competent rider and has a good position on her horse.  She is slightly tense and holding herself away from the horse. I would like to see her sitting more onto her seat bones. I might actually take her stirrups up one hole to help her absorb the movement  through her joints. This would give her a better balance and allow her to bring the lower leg more under her body. With the lower leg more under her body, she could get a constant leg contact with the horse's  barrel. She would then ride more from the leg into the rein.

A useful exercise to help the rider find their seat bones: Provided the horse is safe - While the horse is in halt ask the rider to take their feet out of the stirrups and bring their knees up towards the withers.  The rider will now be definitely on their seat bones.  Next the rider gradually lets their leg slide back down against the horse's side making sure that they keep the feeling of being on their seat bones.

In the picture the horse is leaning to the left.  She is heavy on her forehand and not working from behind. 

The correction is to develop a slower speed miles per hour until the horse has a chance to bring her hind legs under her.  I would encourage the rider to have less bend to the left by letting the left rein go.  The rider will help this horse to become more flexible and straighter by riding lots of changes of direction making sure that on the left rein she has very little bend. 

As the rider makes the small correction to her seat and leg contact, she will be able to help her horse develop a better self-carriage. .Transitions which will help the mare adjust her center of balance back and encourage her to use her hocks.  She will then jump better and  be ready to progress into preliminary competitions.